My Himalayan Trekking Adventure: What has happened to my face?! (Kokchurong)

We are spending the night at the Kokchurong hut. We sleep in our sleeping bags on the wooden floor. I wake in the middle of the night, and feel fluid on my cheek. Is my eye watering? I wipe off the fluid. I don’t feel any pain. It will have to wait until morning. It is too dark to see anything.

Yaks arriving at Kokchurong

The sun is rising, and I feel my cheek. Something isn’t right. It feels puffy, swollen. First, I grab my contacts so I can see. It is a chore getting them in. My eyes are swollen nearly shut. The right side is worse than the left. Somehow I manage to get my contacts in, and look for my mirror. I haven’t seen my face in days. I am too afraid to look.

Rhododendron at Kokchurong

I look. Oh dear God! Has something bit me? Maybe a spider. I had a spider bite once on the leg, but I don’t see any bite marks, and there is no itching. Once a bee bit me in the face when I was little, and my face swelled up, but it also hurt. My eyes are swollen beyond belief. I have never experienced this type of swelling. I have had a swollen ankle, but this puffiness is to the n-th degree. I look like a blowfish. It must be an allergy, but I am not allergic to anything really. Maybe it’s the trees.

Trees at Kokchurong

Everyone is still asleep. I’m having a mini panic attack. Ravi stirs awake, and looks my face over. He says very calmly, it’s a cold allergy. What? But, I’m not allergic to the cold, I think to myself. I live in Chicago. I’ve felt arctic winds on my face before, and I have never experienced anything like this. Whatever it is, I try to look through my medicine for anything that might be of use. All my aspirin is nearly gone. I find antihistamine. It's good for allergies. I take it.

Prek Chu River, Kokchurong

I say to Ravi, but I look awful. He says put your sunglasses on. Right. I will be wearing them morning to night. I should have taken a photo at this moment for documentary purposes. The swelling will take two days to go down, and we will have finished the trek.

Ravi at Kokchurong

On a side note, after the trek, I did some research, and I arrived at the conclusion that I suffered from facial edema. See a case study here, which seems to match the conditions I experienced almost exactly: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1708-8305.2008.00192.x/full

I suffered from facial swelling due to too rapid ascent in altitude for my body. Swelling may occur in arms, legs, and face. In retrospect, upon examining some of my photos, I believe the swelling began at Dzongri, which is at the altitude of 3,950m or 13,000ft. This is the same altitude as the lady from the case study who developed her facial edema while ascending Mt Kilimanjaro.

Prek Chu River, Kokchurong

I am super motivated to get down to lower altitude since I suspect it could be related to my facial swelling. Vanity. It can also motivate. Goodbye Kokchurong!

Next: Phedang – Tsokha – Bakhim.